A Little Input From One of "Them"

I've been thinking about writing again, in the college setting. Our class discussion about "adult" students was interesting and I think the comments were accurate. It was interesting to hear the 19-20 year-old's perspective on the nontraditional students. I am a nontraditional student who sits between the traditional nontraditional student and the traditional student. I am "older" and married but I haven't gone and raised a family or had a career and then came back. I'm just a late bloomer. Everything I've done in life has been after most people do it, so for me I'm normal and I don't mind doing things the way I do them. I spend a little time in the "Nontrad" Center and listen to the 40% of our university population converse, and it sometimes really gives me a headache. The concerns are different and there are children being shuffled in and out frequently. The conversations are free and sometimes foul, so I'm glad I can swing on out of there when things get too heated. I wonder what they would do without each other--without the Nontraditional Student Center. Would they use the other facilities more? Would they go to the Writing Center for help when they need it or would they quit going to school altogether because they don't feel included or supported?

I know there are other students like me here who aren't very old but who are also not very young but they are the few and the quiet. We like to get help, we want to do well, we are too young to be afflicted with enough garbage to cloud our minds with serious emotional and communication problems and we are able to help the younger students who have a little less life experience.

I'm glad we have so many people who want an education from different walks of life. It provides for great conversation and some real life learning among the academic environment.